Writing With Abandon
Reflections and ramblings about life as an educator, writer, reader, knitter, and over-thinker. Trying to do the writing only I can do.
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This morning, I told the students to gather quickly with their writer’s notebooks and a pen or pencil, because we were taking our workshop outside to the park. “No way!” They shouted. “Yessss!” We headed downstairs and out to the park that faces our school, congregating around one of the picnic tables so I could…
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Yesterday, I forced myself out of the apartment for an evening stroll. I walked past the construction of the new bridge and highway towards Maurice A. Ferré Park, taking in the greenery. I made my way towards the Perez Art Museum and climbed up to their back deck, overlooking Biscayne Bay. There, I saw a…
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As a teacher, I don’t like to take days off from work. Whether it’s for self care or a true sick day (like today), the thought of not coming in and showing up for your kids makes you feel even more ill. Because teachers can’t just take a day when they’re not feeling well. We…
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I lived in Madrid for two years in my early twenties, working four days a week at an elementary school as an English language and culture assistant. That first year, I rented a room in an apartment with 5 other girls that became known to us as “el piso paraíso.” The other girls were there…
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At recess on Thursday, one of my students was lingering by the jungle gym where I sat looking out at the group of boys playing soccer. “So, _,” I asked, “what do you plan to do over your long weekend?” He grabbed onto the bars above him and swayed a bit as he replied. “Play…
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A veces, no me gusta vivir en Miami. La humedad molesta, tener que manejar a todos lados es pesadísimo, y ser residente de la Florida puede ser… complicado. Pero una tarde como hoy, después de un día agotador, pasando el atardecer con amigas en el jacuzzi de una de ellas, pienso: “Esto sí me gusta.…
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My head at 45 degrees to the right I fell back against the cushion and watched the classroom spin around me It’s day 6 of this newly-acquired vertigo and I now believe it’s worse than any other sickness I’ve encountered Room shifting tilting my hand reaching out against a wall to…
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Today one of my students brought his writer’s notebook with him to our social studies lesson, sneaking poetic lines in between notes taken on his classmates’ presentations. Yesterday, he asked if he could bring it down to music, because he thought he might get distracted, and knew having the notebook there to write in would…
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It’s 7:29 am and I’m waiting for Ana to pick me up to take us to school. I also just finished Marshfield Dreams by Ralph Fletcher and I feel like I’m floating. What a fantastic book. I read it quickly, within a couple of nights curled up in bed and this morning while eating my…
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At the launch of every new writing unit, I feel a wave of anticipation that teeters dangerously between excitement and overwhelm. Excitement because it’s a new genre, and there are so many great tools and resources, and I have some new systems I want to put in place, and this time I swear I’ll be…
Writing With Abandon 